25 years later, a new Microsoft logo

For a significant amount of its customer base, Microsoft is unveiling a new logo for the first time in their lifetime.

For 25 years, everyone has become accustomed to that signature bold, italicized company name. But as of August 23, 2012, the new official logo is more plain and comes with the multicolored Windows symbol.

This becomes the fifth official Microsoft logo, but the company didn’t have nearly the reach it does today back in the early 1980s or 1970s. Most people who know Microsoft only know the logo that has been in place since 1987.

As such, the move to enter a new logo into the mainstream certainly doesn’t come lightly. But this is one of the most sigificant times for Microsoft as it tries to tie all of its products and service – Xbox, Windows Phone, Windows 8, etc – into one unified brand.

“This is an incredibly exciting year for Microsoft as we prepare to release new versions of nearly all of our products. From Windows 8 to Windows Phone 8 to Xbox services to the next version of Office, you will see a common look and feel across these products providing a familiar and seamless experience on PCs, phones, tablets and TVs.”

“This wave of new releases is not only a reimagining of our most popular products, but also represents a new era for Microsoft, so our logo should evolve to visually accentuate this new beginning,” Microsoft’s Jeffrey Meisner wrote in a blog post.

The next big thing for Microsoft – Windows 8. But we’re also expecting to see a new version of Windows Phone announced in just a couple weeks, and then the Xbox 720 should be introduced next year.